Jagmohan Raju

Jagmohan Raju
  • Joseph J. Aresty Professor
  • Executive Director, Wharton Co-Sponsorship of Indian School of Business
  • Professor of Marketing

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    742 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    3730 Walnut Street
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: competitive strategy, optimizing channel contracts, pricing, private labels, retailing, sales promotions and coupons

Links: CV

Overview

Professor Jagmohan S. Raju is the Joseph J. Aresty Professor and Director of the Wharton-Indian School of Business Program and served as Executive Education’s Vice Dean for nearly six years. Professor Raju is internationally known for his research on pricing strategies, coupon programs, managing private labels and sales force compensation. He consults extensively with companies around the world including Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Warner Home Video, and Johnson and Johnson on designing pricing strategies and developing launch plans for new products.

In a recent research project, Professor Raju and his coauthors examine the benefits and consequences of category management for retailers pointing out what categories are most suitable for this practice.

A prolific scholar, Professor Raju’s research has been published in top-tier academic journals including Management Science, the Journal of Retailing, and Marketing Science. He also serves as the Marketing Editor of Management Science and is the President of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, a professional organization whose members include marketing academics and business executives who apply quantitative methods to solve marketing problems. He has received numerous teaching and research awards.

Professor Raju’s teaching interests include Introduction to Marketing courses at the graduate and undergraduate level, the pricing elective at Wharton as well as teaching and directing Competitive Marketing Strategy, Essentials of Marketing and Pricing Strategies for Wharton’s Executive MBA program.

Professor Raju received his PhD, MA and MS degrees from Stanford University, his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, and his BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

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Research

Current Projects: Strategic alliances. Retailing decisions with special focus on private labels and category management. Internet pricing. Scenario forecasting for entertainment and high-tech products.

  • Andre Bonfrer and Jagmohan Raju (Working), CEO Succession and its Impact on Competitive Behavior.

  • Upender Subramanian, Jagmohan Raju, Z. John Zhang (Working), Customer Value Based Management: Competitive Implications.

    Abstract: Many ?firms today quantify the value of individual customers and serve them differentially; providing better service, prices and other inducements to high value customers. We refer to this practice as Customer Value-based Management (CVM). While previous research and popular press has strongly advocated CVM, ?firms have often met with mixed results. One possible reason why actual outcomes differ from anticipated results could be that ?firms often implement CVM in a competitive environment. Our objective is to study CVM explicitly in a competitive setting. We find that while some recommendations and prescriptions from past research continue to apply in a competitive environment, some others do not. For example, we find that one of the benefits of CVM in a competitive setting is that it can discourage the rival from competing intensely, by increasing the rival’s chances of acquiring unprofitable customers. In this context, low-value customers can play an important strategic role by limiting the intensity of rival’s poaching. Consequently, ?firing low value customers or even increasing their value may prove counter-productive.

  • Rajeev Tyagi and Jagmohan Raju (Working), Preemptive National Brand Positioning Strategies Response Store Brand Entry.

  • Rajeev Tyago and Jagmohan Raju (Working), The Effect of Entrant Brand Ownership on National Brand Positioning Strategies, Managerial and Decision Economics.

  • Yuxin Chen, Yogesh Joshi, Jagmohan Raju, Z. John Zhang (Forthcoming), A Theory of Combative Advertising, Marketing Science, 2006.

  • S. Sajeesh and Jagmohan Raju (Working), Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Niche Strategies: Impact on Positioning and Pricing.

  • Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang, Smart Pricing (:, 2009)

  • Tony Cui, Jagmohan Raju, Z. John Zhang (2008), A Price-Discrimination Model of Trade Promotions, Marketing Science.

    Abstract: Critics have long faulted the wide-spread practice of trade promotions as wasteful. It has been estimated that this practice adds up to $100 billion worth of inventory to the distribution system. Yet, the practice continues. In this paper, we propose a price discrimination model of trade promotions. We show that in a distribution channel characterized by a dominant retailer, a manufacturer has incentives to price discriminate between the dominant retailer and smaller independents. While offering all retailers the same pricing policy, price discrimination can be implemented through trade promotions because they induce different inventoryordering behaviors on the part of retailers. Differences in inventory holding costs have been shown to be an important determinant of consumer promotions. Our analysis suggests that differences in holding costs are also potentially an important driver for the use of trade promotions. The implications from our model explain a number of anecdotal and /or empirically observed puzzles about how trade promotions are practiced. For example, our analysis explains why chain stores welcome trade promotions but independents do not. Our analysis outlines implications for managing trade promotions.

  • Musalem, Andres, Eric Bradlow, Jagmohan Raju (2008), Bayesian Estimation of Random-Coefficients Choice Models using Aggregate Data, Journal of Applied Econometrics, To appear.

    Abstract: This article discusses the use of Bayesian methods for estimating logit demand models using aggregate data. We analyze two different demand systems: independent samples and consumer panel. Under the first system, there is a different and independent random sample of N consumers in each period and each consumer makes only a single purchase decision. Under the second system, the same N consumers make a purchase decision in each of T periods. Interestingly, there exists an asymptotic link between these two systems, which has important implications for the estimation of these demand models. The proposed methods are illustrated using simulated and real data.

  • Tony Cui, Jagmohan Raju, Z. John Zhang (2007), Fairness and Channel Coordination, Management Science, August 2007.

    Abstract: We incorporate the concept of fairness in a conventional dyadic channel to investigate how fairness may affect channel coordination. We show that when channel members are concerned about fairness, the manufacturer can use a simple wholesale price above her marginal cost to coordinate this channel both in terms of achieving the maximum channel profit and in terms of attaining the maximum channel utility. Thus, channel coordination may not require an elaborate pricing contract. A constant wholesale price will do.

Teaching

All Courses

  • MKTG6110 - Marketing Management

    This course addresses how to design and implement the best combination of marketing efforts to carry out a firm's strategy in its target markets. Specifically, this course seeks to develop the student's (1) understanding of how the firm can benefit by creating and delivering value to its customers, and stakeholders, and (2) skills in applying the analytical concepts and tools of marketing to such decisions as segmentation and targeting, branding, pricing, distribution, and promotion. The course uses lectures and case discussions, case write-ups, student presentations, and a comprehensive final examination to achieve these objectives.

  • MKTG7540 - Pricing Policy

    The course provides a systematic presentation of the factors to be considered when setting price, and shows how pricing alternatives are developed. Analytical methods are developed and new approaches are explored for solving pricing decisions.

  • MKTG8990 - Independent Study

    A student contemplating an independent study project must first find a faculty member who agrees to supervise and approve the student's written proposal as an independent study (MKTG 899). If a student wishes the proposed work to be used to meet the ASP requirement, he/she should then submit the approved proposal to the MBA adviser who will determine if it is an appropriate substitute. Such substitutions will only be approved prior to the beginning of the semester.

  • MKTG9540 - Econ/Or Models in Mktg A

    This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.

  • MKTG9710 - Adv Topics Mktg Part A

    Taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department, this course investigates advanced topics in marketing. It is organized in a way that allows students to 1) gain depth in important areas of research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance their own research interests.

  • MKTG9950 - Dissertation

    Dissertation

  • WH2160 - Global Modular Course

    TBD

Awards and Honors

  • Fellow, INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, 2017
  • 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award, MBA Core, 2012
  • 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award, Wharton Executive MBA Program Electives, 2012
  • MBA Excellence in Teaching: Elective Curriculum, 2011
  • Wharton MBA Program for Executives: Elective Teaching Award, 2011
  • WEMBA West Elective Teaching Award, 2009
  • Finalist, Best Paper Award, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2006
  • Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Course Teaching Award, 2006
  • WEMBA West MBA Elective Teaching Award, 2005
  • WEMBA West Elective Teaching Award, 2004
  • President: Society for Marketing Science, INFORMS, 2004
  • Finalist, Frank Bass Award, 2004
  • Best Core Course Teacher Award, Indian School of Business, 2003
  • Faculty Marshall, MBA Graduation Ceremony, 2002
  • Wharton Core Course Teaching Award, 2000
  • Wharton Executive MBA Teaching Award, 2000
  • Wharton Core Course Teaching Award, 1999
  • Marketing Professor of the Year (UCLA), 1992
  • George Robbins Award for Teaching (UCLA), 1991

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